Serious help needed.

[Josh]

Sounds like the temp is most likely the problem. If the corals are stressed then they will not grow and normally release a lot of stuff into the water, which could be causing the high nitrate.

Rich's suggestion about the 2 liter bottle is the best thing to do. If you get it back under 80 then things will probably turn around.

 

[alrha]

Freeze a 2liter bottle of soda (filled with water) and drop it in the sump or tank in the afternoon

you can also freeze your top-off RO/DI water and top-off with ice cubes.
but this and the bottle would of course take more work all-summer long.

 

[samksy]

Sam, 85 is VERY high. You're on border line death to the tank. You may have a lot of die off from the high temp causing your buildup of Nitrates. Freeze a 2liter bottle of soda (filled with water) and drop it in the sump or tank in the afternoon, as well as a fan on the sump and canopy.......put fans all over

The MR2 is a tricky skimmer to use. How much skimmate per day are you getting from it? Dry or wet foam? Do you have a pic of it skimming?

I don't have one with me right now, i'll posted one when i get home.

Yes, i definetly have to agree with you, it's tricky to use. I plumbed and ran it over night, thought everything was in good hand, but the next day i woke up, the whole bucket(200 gallon ocean salt bucket) is almost full. Which totally shock me. So now i turned up the gatevalve much more, skimmate are sort of wet, i'll post some picks when i get home, hofefully you can direct me on the skimmer.

I have like 3 clip on fans in the canopy and one big fan in the sump for cool off, but didn't help much......ouch, chiller are so damn exp

 

[samksy]

Sounds like the temp is most likely the problem. If the corals are stressed then they will not grow and normally release a lot of stuff into the water, which could be causing the high nitrate.

Rich's suggestion about the 2 liter bottle is the best thing to do. If you get it back under 80 then things will probably turn around.

This probably is my best alternatives right now. I'll have to gather soda bottles when i get home.

 

[samksy]

you can also freeze your top-off RO/DI water and top-off with ice cubes.
but this and the bottle would of course take more work all-summer long.

I'll definetly have to work on the freezing bottles.

So should i go get the nitrate media reducer/no3 or just try to resolve the heat issues?

 

[alrha]

try to lower the temp with Rich's method and do water changes to dilute the nitrates. if you see it dropping, you wont need the media. if it is still climbing, get the media to keep it down till you figure out the cause.

 

[jackson6745]

Sam if the skimmer is tweaked right your nitrates will be very low, very fast.

Show me a pic of the foam and try your best to explain how you tweaked it. Is it a dual beckett? what pump are you using with it?

 

[ShaunW]

Don't overlook the fact that the high temperature could be responsible. At that temp. alot of reef life are unable to grow and can/will die. You could be having a large bacterial die off (anaerobic and microaerophilic), with the release of nitrate from your sand bed.

What are your phosphate levels?

 

[ShaunW]

I just went back and saw Rich's comments. He is spot on!!

 

[jackson6745]

No Shaun, you're spot on!

 

[samksy]

Don't overlook the fact that the high temperature could be responsible. At that temp. alot of reef life are unable to grow and can/will die. You could be having a large bacterial die off (anaerobic and microaerophilic), with the release of nitrate from your sand bed.

What are your phosphate levels?

Ehhhhhhhhhhhh, i don't have a phosphate test kit.

 

[ShaunW]

Ehhhhhhhhhhhh, i don't have a phosphate test kit.

I would bet that your phosphate levels are higher than normal also. Nitrate and phosphate release from sand beds go hand-in-hand.

 

[alrha]

are you getting a lot of algae growth?

ok, you're both spot on! alright?

 

[jhale]

not to state the obvious, but it's friggin hot today, the heat index is 110 :shocked1:

I would buy some ice on your way home!

 

[alrha]

you have to rub it in?

 

[samksy]

I would bet that your phosphate levels are higher than normal also. Nitrate and phosphate release from sand beds go hand-in-hand.

Shaun,

What you think my solution should be? Keep up the water change, lower the temperature and skim like crazy?

Man, my wallet is empty already after the skimmer....Chiller Chiller Chiller

Will the weather get any worst? Damn!

alrha, i don't see a lot of algea growth.....just the pink one, a lot on the side of the tank.

 

[ShaunW]

I would suggest all the solutions that have been offered by everyone already. MR has many knowledgeable reefers !!

And as you mentioned:
Lower the temperature.
Dilute out the nitrate (phosphate?) through water changes.
Use some sort of mechanism to lower nitrate, i.e. biological/chemical (I am a big fan of biological systems, like macroalgae, anaerobic de-nitrate systems like spykes mentioned, and remote sandbeds).
Cut down your photoperiod if it is greater than 8 hours.

 

[jhale]

you have to rub it in?

no, this is what I'm dealing with.
fortunatley I have a chiller, not intending to rub it in again

after a $470 dollar bill from con ed last month :bigeyes2:, I have decided to run the loft area a/c only when company comes over. and that's only for people i like. Our bill is never above $200 so that was a shocker.
this means my chiller is the tanks life line. I'm not sure what running the chiller will cost, I just got it, but I'm asuming it will be less than a 220 volt 35,000 btu a/c unit. :bigeyes2:

If keeping the temps down helps also keep the po4 and no3 down as well,
then it's time to get a chiller. I know it sucks but what else can you do?

 

[alrha]

holy macro! are you crazy? its 100 degrees inside??!! you're gonna cook!

why not just set your A/C to 80 degrees? or you can try the time of use plan in which case you can blast it all night long for cheap and the room will stay cool during the day.

 

[spykes]

you sure it's not 3,500BTU? because our reguler chezzy A/C units are like 6,500 that's around 1 HP.

my next DIY for next summer is a DIY chiller unit, welded to a titianium coil, like how they do it for lobster tank a 1/2 ton titanium coil wrapped over with a 4 inch PVC tube unit.